


Forever Family

by drawing_lines_in_arbitrary_places_xx



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Anne of Cleves - Freeform, Catherine Parr - Freeform, First fic pls don't judge, Foster Fic, Found Family, How Do I Tag, Implied/Referenced Murder, Jane Seymour - Freeform, Katherine Howard - Freeform, Six the musical - Freeform, We love the queens, We stan the queens, anne boleyn - Freeform, catherine of aragon - Freeform, i can't tag, implied/ referenced child abuse, just read the fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:40:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26634487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drawing_lines_in_arbitrary_places_xx/pseuds/drawing_lines_in_arbitrary_places_xx
Summary: Collette was about to go home from the show one day when she spots a tiny figure in the corner curled up on the floor. Little did she know that when she went to talk to the little girl, her life would change forever.Or Collette is amazing and looks after an abandoned child and the six cast are the best aunties
Comments: 30
Kudos: 43





	1. Finding Isla

She was dreaming…  
There she was, in the hall with all of the girls she saw walking to dance from her bedroom window every day. She stood in the middle of the room and the teacher asked her to do a step, and she was turning, which she didn’t even think she could do. Everyone was amazed and the teacher said she was a natural. “Honey, come on, wake up, that’s it”.

She felt herself being pulled towards reality, hushed voices around her getting louder as she woke up. She opened my eyes and saw six women. The one closest the to her had dark hair pulled back into a messy bun and tanned skin, and reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. It took all her willpower not to shout, but when she flinched, the woman looked apologetic and put her hand down.

“Hiya, what’s your name? I’m Collette” she said  
“Isla” the girl whispered.  
“That’s a really pretty name. How old are you?”  
Isla didn’t reply, not trusting herself, but held up four fingers. She couldn’t hold back, and added “I’m almost five though, I’m a big girl and I can look after myself”  
Collette sighed and another woman with blonde hair said “Sweetie, where are your parents?”  
Right, of course. She's a little kid in the middle of London sleeping against a brick wall… They’re gonna want to know.  
“Erm… Well… my daddy was gonna hit me last night, but mummy didn’t want it to happen, so she tried to stop him, but he had a knife and stuck it in her stomach. There was lots of blood and screaming and then it was all quiet and daddy took her into the woods. Then he took me here and said I need to not ever come back, or he’ll do to me what he did to mummy.” she looked up, wondering what they would think of this information.  
They were all clearly very shocked and at first no one said anything until a woman with pink hair said “Isla, can we take you inside with us? We work in that building as actors” She pointed up towards a purple sparkly sign.  
She didn’t know why, but Isla knew these people feel safe. It’s like they won’t hurt her, and they care. So, against her instincts, Isla nodded and let Collette carry her inside.

****  
All they went out for was a Pret and they came back with a child. She was sleeping against the wall opposite the theatre, blonde hair falling across her face. The first thought that hit Collette was how tiny she was, she couldn’t be older than five, surely. And yet there wasn’t an adult in sight. Now the queens had taken her into the theatre like Aimie suggested, and as she got up, they all noticed how tired and worn down she looked. They couldn't possibly leave her, and Collette had already made up her mind on what she was going to do.

“Ok Isla, do you mind if we all talk for a minute?” Collette say. She shakes her head and the queens huddle the corner of the room

“What the hell do we do?” Grace asks  
Millie shrugs “call the police?”  
Collette shakes her head “I can take her in, I don’t mind”  
“Are you sure Col? We don’t want to force you into anything” Vicki said anxiously  
“But if you are sure, I’ll be the best auntie” Courtney added  
Millie snorted “You think you’ll be the best?! Dream on Courtney ‘I hate fun’ Stapleton!”. Millie got a punch on the arm for that.  
“Seriously guys, I’m sure. I don’t mind at all, and I’d rather I take her in than have her put into the system” which received a lot of nods and murmurs of agreement.

When they walked back over to Isla, she looked a little unsure of what was going to happen.  
“Are you ok Isla?” Millie asked gently  
She shrunk back and whimpered before stuttering “Please don’t hit me, I’m sorry if I’ve been bad”, making the queens' hearts break even further.  
“You’ve done absolutely nothing wrong” Collette say “In fact, we were wondering if you wanted to stay with me from now on? Only if you want to though”  
Although she was attempting to hide it, Collette was terrified about how Isla would react, but was surprised when she flung herself into the woman's arms and hugged her. Collette hugged back and promised to herself that she would look after her the best she possibly could.


	2. Going shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The queens take Isla shopping! I can’t write summaries and just realised that sounds cringe but read if you want all the fluff without the hurt (that’s coming later hehe)

When Isla woke up, she was surprised at how comfy she was. For one, she was sleeping on a bed and not in the corner of a room.  
"Morning Isla! You must've been tired, it's 10 o'clock!" she opens her eyes to Collette, the nice lady who had taken her home last night. Now she wasn't so tired, she took a closer look at the young woman. She had dark brown hair and caramel skin, and she had a few piercings, which looked cool according to her.

"Can we have food please?" Isla asked timidly. Of course Collette wouldn't slap her... At least, she didn't think she would anyway.  
Collette scooped her up and twirled her round before pressing a kiss to her forehead. "How about pancakes?" Collette didn't miss Isla's face light up at that request and so that was that, pancakes for breakfast.  
"Wanna help me make them?" and with a vigorous nod from the 4-year-old, they set to work.

By the time they were done, yes the kitchen was a mess, but they had also created what the duo considered an absolute masterpiece. There was a stack of four rainbow pancakes for each of them with chocolate sauce, though maybe Collette shouldn't have let Isla put as many sprinkles as she wanted on the stack, as she would soon learn the struggles of looking after a child with sugar rush.  
"So" Collette began after they'd finished eating "I do have a spare room but it doesn't have a bed or any toys in it yet, so we're going shopping today. And, because it's Monday, that means it's our day off and the girls will be coming along to help us". 

Right on cue, there was the ring of a doorbell, and Collette opened the door to all 9 of the other queens who came bounding in.  
Isla looked up at them with curiosity as they introduced themselves. There was Jaye J, Millie, Nat, Lexi, Aimie, Maiya, Vicki, Courtney and Grace and together it seemed that chaos was likely to ensue...

Once they were at the shopping centre, Collette, being the organised one, split the girls into groups. "Ok, Millie, Vicki, Courtney and Isla, you can go and look for toys; Jaye J, Me and Grace for clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste and all that jazz; and Nat, Lexi, Aimie, and Maiya, furniture for the room. Ready?" and all the girls scattered in their different directions.

The next hours went in a blur, going through aisles of dolls, slime, Lego, books and so much more. Although Isla had been hesitant at first to pick too much, they ended up leaving with 3 full bags of different sorts of entertainment thanks to the girls for being so encouraging and loving.

That’s something Isla had never experienced before meeting the queens, love. Her dad was always out drinking or selling dodgy stolen things, and her mum was too broken to care about her. Most of the time she stayed in bed but that one night she’d had enough of her dad’s abuse and decided to fight back... which didn’t turn out amazingly.  
But now Isla had a family of 10 queens who each seem to love her unconditionally, and it felt like she could laugh and play without fearing that she’d crossed that invisible line that meant she’d probably get hurt...

“Isla? Are you ok?” Millie crouched in front of her and the others were looking concerned too. How long had she zoned out for? Nodding and giving a giggle when Grace did a funny dance, they went to meet the others where they got some food.

On the table there was so much stuff Isla could hardly believe it. “Is this all mine?” She asked excitedly.  
“Yeah, all yours” Collette said and Jaye J exclaimed that “you’ll be looking fierce in the new clothes we bought you huns, fierce af”  
“What does af mean?” I looked questionably at her  
“It means ‘as-“  
“- language! We don’t want to teach her swear words already!” Vicki pointed out.

“Thank you so much! I love it all! I’ve never had this many things before!” Isla exclaimed.  
As I said this I was enveloped in a huge hug and Isla found herself being swept away in happiness and dreams of what was to come... what was to come with her new family...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I might not update too regularly as we have WAY too much work to do for school 😑 history needs to chill on the homework front for real!
> 
> Hope you all enjoy and please give suggestions and feedback as I really do appreciate it!


	3. Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Collette realises Isla might have a secret talent

During the three weeks Isla had been living with Collette, they had managed to sort out a vague routine of sorts.

In the mornings they had breakfast and normally went on a walk. Then Collette worked on some choreo for a class she'd be teaching at some point whilst Isla watched TV or played with her toys, sometimes doing some colouring. And then it would be time to cook lunch and meet the queens to have a little bit of social time before the shows. Since there was always someone on standby, Isla had grown close with the other alternates especially and they all had a soft spot for her (I mean, how could you not? She's adorable). After the show, they'd travel home and Isla would be asleep before her head hit the pillow.

It was one day whilst Collette was doing some choreography for a jazz class that Isla found her passion. She had been watching Peppa Pig, but had grown tired of watching her jump in muddy puddles and decided instead to see what Collette was up to. Watching her choreograph from a distance, she grew more and more curious and enthusiastic until she was marking the routine herself and found that she was actually picking it up fairly quickly.

"And... time to get a drink" Collette finished off and went into the kitchen. Isla, wondering if she would be able to do it full-out, came to the centre of the living room and, running the music in her head, got lost in the movements that Collette had brought into existence. She was having so much fun she didn't notice Collette coming back into the room, and certainly didn't know that she had watched her do the dance four times before coming up to her and exclaiming "How come you never told me you could dance!"

Isla was scared out of her mind. What if she had been naughty? What if she would be like Dad? Dad always said dancing was stupid and anyone who did it clearly didn't have a brain in their head, but then again, Collette was a dancer, wasn't she? She wouldn't get hurt again, she was sure of that. Collette wouldn't hurt her, right? No, definitely not, but what if she thought it was stupid?

"Do you want me to teach you?" Collette asked.  
"You mean I'm allowed?!" Isla exclaimed  
"Of course you are! And you'll be a great dancer as well, you've got the right mind for it with how quickly you picked that up!".

And after that, Isla ate, slept and breathed dance. It was all she could talk about, and it helped that most of the queens danced too so there was always a dance party going on when Isla was around. It really had seemed as though the girls had just so happened to pick the perfect child for their family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm writing this at 3am and I have an English test tomorrow, so that's... fun.  
> Also sorry this chapter is so short, I've just not had much time recently but hopefully I'll get to write more regularly soon in the holidays!


	4. Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Millie, Grace, Lexi, Aimie and Isla, and lots of sugar on a late night... oh and add a karaoke machine, and a game of hide and seek. What could possibly go wrong?

"Hi, look I'm really sorry, but I couldn't change the date of the class, and my parents aren't free. I know I'm probably being super annoying and you can say no if you want to, like I totally get it if you don't want to have a four year old for the night but-"  
"Collette, I'd love to. Bring her over tonight and everything will be fine" Millie calmly interrupted across the phone.

And that was how this absolute mess started out. Which now involved Millie wondering how to tell Collette that she’d gone and lost her daughter 

"Hey Isla! How are you doing on this fine evening?" Millie dramatically opened the door, posing before the tiny girl and Collette.  
"Very very very good!" Isla sung happily. "Can I show you a dance I did yesterday?"

Since enrolling at the local dance school (and having a few lessons here and there from Collette who was an insanely talented dancer, as well as some of the other girls), never a day went by when Isla wasn't wanting to show someone a dance, and she was actually very good at it.

"I'll pick her up at 10, she has all her things in the backpack and she'll probably be passed out by 9. Again Mills, I'm so sorry it's at such short notice, I honestly couldn't change it"  
"What did I tell you before? It's fine! I love her anyway, she's adorable and she actually laughs at my jokes, unlike the rest of you!"  
"Ok well I'll be off. Bye Isla, be good for Millie!"  
"Bye bye" Isla waved.

And finally the door was shut and the night had begun.

"SUPRISE!" out from under the table came Grace and Lexi wearing party hats and blowing party poppers left right and centre. Millie swooped Isla up into a massive hug and whispered into her ear "We just wanted to properly celebrate our new member of the family since you've been here a whole month now! And you've grown so goddamn much in that time too!"  
"People! We bout to PARTAY!" Lexi exclaimed with Grace dancing and whooping in the background.

"So, what will it be first: Karaoke, baking or dance party?" Grace asked Isla.  
"Umm" Isla said, with the most contemplative face a four year old could come up with, "Baking first because then, we have cakes and stuff for breaks during the dance battles and karaoke?"  
"Good plan, so baking first then, come on guys, let's get to it!"

"So it says here we need 110g of flour, 110g of butter and 110g of sugar, but as it's a special occasion should we double the sweetness?" Millie pondered  
As she went to bring the flour to the bowl, there was a ripping sound and the world went into slow motion.  
Grace lunged forwards in an attempt to save the flour whilst Lexi tried to put the bowl under the flour as a huge tear appeared in the flour packaging, but alas it was to no avail. A mountain of flour now sat on the kitchen tiles and Grace, having the philosophy "waste not, want not" scooped up the flour and placed it in the bowl anyway.

"Grace! That's absolutely rotten!" Lexi exclaimed, but the damage had been done now so they collectively agreed that it was probably best to just carry on and try to forget about the incident.  
"Ok, now 2 eggs". This part went pretty smoothly and now came the mixing.

Unfortunately, Millie being as chaotic as it was possible to be, she put the whisk on full speed and all the ingredients came flying up into their faces. 

So, yeah, to tell you the short version, cake baking wasn't an all-round success but next it was the dance battle, and besides, they still had plenty of sweets and chocolate to see them through the night.

"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT!" Lexi said, pulling on a beanie and some joke glasses with a nose and moustache attached.  
"It's E double D in the house! #EDD for Prime Minister! I came all the way here on the M6 and the M1 today for my favourite four-year-old, Isla, who is an absolute legend. Unfortunately my bae Nat Nat couldn't make it- love you Nat Nat- but I am here to host the iconic SIX queens (and Isla) dance off! Are we ready to have some fun tonight people?!"  
"YEAH!" Grace, Millie and Isla screamed.

"Ok, first we have Grace Mouat, Mazza of Grace, Grazza of Mazza (a/n please don't ask me to explain this, I am surviving off coffee, it's 1:30 and I have 4 tests tomorrow... I should sort out my sleeping schedule lol)  
vs Millie O'Connell, Millie from Marketing, Millie Wonka herself! Can we please give a big cheer! Ok, lets go!"

During the dance battle, Isla had been looking around the house being curious, and saw the pile of sweets on the kitchen table. Being a child, sweets were not simply a favourite food but a lifestyle, and 10 minutes in, the sugar rush had hit and was in full swing. Of course, Millie being Millie, she had bought the most sugary sweets imaginable and that meant that Isla was bouncing off the walls.

"Ok, so we have our winner, Grazza Mazza!" Lexi screamed, holding Grace's arm up in the air. "And that only means one thing! It is time for Grace Mouat to go up against the invincible Isla Guitart, dancing queen and the sassiest of the lot!"

"I'm ready, I'm ready!" Isla bounced up and down. "Millie! Watch me!" she exclaimed before going into what one can only describe as an absolute vibe, and finishing it all off going into splits (so the stretch classes Isla had moaned about doing had paid off then, Millie mused).  
"WHOOP WHOOP! She lived up to her reputation everybody, and I think we are going to have to proclaim Isla the winner!" 

"I did it! I did it! I did it! Grace, Millie, Lexi, I won!" she said jumping up and down and running around the kitchen like a maniac and not seeming to ever lose any energy no matter how much she zoomed around like sonic the hedgehog (a/n: if you don’t know Sonic, get to know and please look him up) .

Grace looked over towards the table and then realisation hit her...  
"Isla sweetie, can you come over here?" she nodded and sprinted over at 100mph.  
"Did you eat all the sweets by yourself?"  
Isla hid her face in her hands as she had started grinning, and shook her head profusely.  
Grace and Millie exchanged a look.  
"Can you answer that again please?" Millie asked, a warning tone appearing as everyone knew Isla was telling fibs.  
"Ok fine, I did eat them, but only because they're so yummy". Millie sighed. They needed to tire this child out, and fast, it was already 9:00pm and Collette would be back in an hour.

Suddenly the doorbell rang and Lexi went to see who it was.  
A white fluffball rushed in and began licking Isla's face, letting them all know who was at the door straight away.  
"Aimie!!"  
"Hiya! How's my favourite girlie?" Aimie asked and knelt down to give Isla a hug.  
"She has a sugar rush currently, any ideas on how to make her tire out?" Lexi asked.

"Actually I do... Isla, we're going to play a game of hide and seek, and you can hide anywhere in the house. But, you need to be really quiet because you need to make sure we don't find you. Do you think you can do that?" asked Aimie, getting an enthusiastic nod as a yes.

"Ok, I'm going to count to 40, that's a very big number so you have time to hide. I'm starting now: 1, 2, 3, 4"

And with that, Isla ran off and began exploring the different nooks and crannies of Millie's house. First was the living room. A quick look around told her there was nowhere to hide there. The bathroom? Again, there was the bath, but someone could easily spot her just by moving the shower curtain... If there was one thing spending the first four years of her life taught her, it was how to find a good hiding spot. After more exploring, only one room in the house left, Millie's room.  
From the doorway, the young girl surveyed the room trying to look for anywhere the adults wouldn't think of, under the bed was too easy. The drawers would have been a good idea but they were too full of things to get so much as a foot in. The only place left was the wardrobe... Perfect! One look inside and Isla could see that she could hide underneath the jumpers at the bottom and they wouldn't think of that in a million years. A quick look around told her she wasn't being watched, and as she hopped in, Wolfie (Aimie's dog) came in behind her.  
"Hi Wolfie!!" Isla giggled.  
"Do you promise you'll stay quiet? Ok then, you can stay here with me"

Back in the kitchen, the girls decided to wait for a few minutes before searching for Isla.  
"How do you know this'll work?" Grace enquired.  
"Easy" Aimie responded "She'll have to be still and quiet, which will make her slowly nod off, and I have a feeling she'll be feeling pretty tired by now anyway. Shall we go and look for her?"

Millie took the dining room while Lexi looked in the living room, Aimie in the bathroom and Grace looked around in the laundry room. About 10 minutes had passed and no one had gotten any closer to finding Isla. And Collette would be there in 15 minutes time (knowing Collette, probably 5)

They all congregated in the kitchen to discuss strategies again (and have some chocolate but we don’t talk about that, ok?)

“So... where could she be? We’ve tried the kitchen, the bathroom, dining room, laundry room, living room...”

“The bedroom! OMG we are so stupid!” Grace exclaimed  
“Speak for yourself huns” Lexi butted in.

“I’ll go” Millie insisted, it was her house after all.

And so she went into her room to check every tiny place she could think of; the drawers, behind the curtains, under the bed. Was she even in the house? Maybe she thought she would find a better hiding place and win the game if she went outside? We all know how competitive she is. 

Very gradually, a heavy knot settled in her stomach: the feeling of knowing that she could have lost her friend’s child and it would be all her fault... Sitting on the bed, Millie played with the strings on her jumper wondering how the hell she was going to break this news. “Sorry, it’s the first time we’re looking after your kid ever and we lost her already” wasn’t going to look very good.

Then, all of a sudden, she heard a little sniffle coming... from her wardrobe. Ahhh... hang on, wait a second. She’d already looked there, hadn’t she?

Opening the door, she heard the noise again, and realised that it was coming from underneath her jumpers. Flinging them out onto her bed, she saw a shock of white fur and giggled to herself. Lifting up more jumpers, Millie could see the whole heartwarming picture.

Isla was snuggled up against Wolfie with her arm tucked around her and her legs curled into her body, hair draping across her face while both the girl and dog slept blissfully through the other girls’ panic.

“Ok then buba, let’s get you tucked in” Millie whispered, as she carefully moved Isla from Wolfie and carried her to the bed where she brought the blankets up to her chin.

At that moment the doorbell rang and Lexi opened it to Collette. All that the girls could hope was that Millie had managed to find Isla and that she was asleep by now. Millie strode into the kitchen and, upon seeing Collette, gave her a warm smile.

“Hiya, how was the class?” Millie asked  
“Great thanks, really good. How is she, and why’s everyone here?” Collette gestured to the girls.  
“Um... we just came when Millie got Isla to sleep to watch a bit of TV, you know?” Thank god for Grace saving the day there.  
“So you got her to sleep ok and everything?” Collette asked. She was clearly anxious: this was the first time she had spent time away from Isla since she had taken her in.  
“Collette, everything’s fine, don’t worry. Nothing even happened. No chaos at all to report, in fact it all went really smoothly” Aimie said with her fingers crossed behind her back.  
“Thanks so much for looking after her girls, honestly you life savers”. 

And that was how the first chaotic night of many with the queens (without Collette knowing about the chaotic parts) came to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry it’s not my best work and I haven’t updated in AGES. Procrastination- you know? 
> 
> I hope you enjoy and any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Also any other fic ideas for after this- anything at all, cause I’m bad at coming up with ideas lol


	5. The Park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> get ready for some of Isla's backstory... (and the angst hehe)

It was just another day in the Guitart house.

That day Collette had woken up to a sudden weight on her and someone tapping her face.

“Come on, come on!!! Vicki’s coming in 10 minutes!” Collette shot up in bed as she realised she was almost definitely not going to be ready for the alternate’s arrival (who had arranged that she would pick Isla up at 10:30 and give Collette a break for the morning).

“Come on! I’m ready, do you see?” Collette grunted in response, earning a giggle from the girl as she continued to bounce up and down on the bed.

“Have you got everything you need?” Collette asked, trying to sound more awake than she really was and shaking the grogginess out of her voice.

“Yep! I packed my backpack: I have a coat, hairbrush, picture book and crayons!”. Great... how was she supposed to keep Isla busy while she got ready then? Luckily (or unluckily depending on how you look at it) the doorbell rang then and Isla ran to the door, leaving Collette to wack on a t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms as she heard the door open and Vicki’s voice.

“How’s my favourite four year old?”  
Isla’s face was quizzical as she asked “How many four year olds so you know?”  
There was a pause “just you... but if I knew any others you’d still be my favourite”. An answer which satisfied Isla

“So sorry, I woke up late but she’s ready to go! Please no doughnut eating competitions like last time Vicks” to which both the adult and the child burst out laughing.  
With a mischievous wink Vicki said “I can’t promise anything I’m afraid” and with that, they said goodbye and left for the park leaving Collette to go back to bed as she questioned what the pair would get up to this time...

[At the park]

"Ok, what do you want to do Isla?" The little girl looked around and said, "easy, swings are the best part"  
Vicki chuckled before asking "Do you want me to push you?"  
With a decisive shaking of her head, Isla replied "No, I can do it! I'm going to go really really high as well!"  
And with that, Vicki sat down on a bench and pulled out a paperback from her bag that she was reading at the moment after seeing that Isla was ok by herself.

From the other side of the playground, Isla pushed off the ground with her feet while her hands clung onto the chains and her braids were blown about in the wind. Higher and higher and higher still she went, beaming and surveying her surroundings... Vicki looked tiny from the top until something stopped her in her tracks...  
"Isla". A voice called her name...  
"Oi, Isla". A strangely familiar one...  
Isla jumped down from the swings to see a boy who was about 18 years old with ruffled dark hair and eyes of steel. She froze, not knowing how to react. Should she be pleased to see him? Honestly she wasn't sure, but she went up to the fence of the playground anyway.

"Aren't you happy to talk to your brother then? What the hell, did you forget the meaning of family? So you're just living with some random lady now? Is that her over there?" He pointed at Vicki, still immersed in her book.  
"N-n-no. That's not what happened Oliver! It's not like that! Dad left me and Collette gave me somewhere to live and she's really nice! Vicki's with me now though, cause she takes me here sometimes... Anyway, what are you doing here?"  
"Coming to rescue my little sister. Family means we stick together, and I'm an adult now, so I can look after you. It'll be just like the old days".

Isla didn't like the sound of this, the old days weren't a very nice time in her life, and he smelled funny, like smoke. Like what dad smelt like...  
"Ollie I don't wanna go, it's nice where I live, nicer than before. I want to stay where I am now".

Before Isla had a chance to process what was going on, Oliver had made a lunge at her arm and she only just managed to dodge it.  
"I'll take you whether you like it or not, you realise that, don't you? As if you think you can fight me, you're tiny and weak and you mean nothing, don't you realise?".

Meanwhile, Vicki had peered over the back of her book to find that Isla wasn't on the swings, but talking to a teenager leaning over the fence with a spiteful look etched on his face, and Isla clearly didn't want to be in the situation. Silently seething, Vicki walked over to the scene, and glared at the boy.  
"Isla, come on honey, do you want to go home?"  
Isla nodded and buried her face in Vicki's leg as she wrapped an arm around the young girl.

"Her real home is with me, you're not her family and never will be" he spat out at her, anger and violence clear in every word.  
"We've given her love and care, which is more than you guys have ever done. If you don't leave, I'm not afraid of calling the police you know?"  
"Just know that eventually she'll come running back to me, when she's realised what's good for her".  
"Go to hell" Vicki shouted after him as he skulked off, putting his scruffy hoodie up over his head and retreating back into the surrounding woodland.

At this point, her attention turned to Isla. She was pressed into her side trembling, eyes wide from shock as her breathing was getting lighter and quicker. Vicki knelt down to her level before holding onto her hands and gently saying "Ok, Isla, can you hear me?" to which she got a shaky nod.  
Vicki was used to dealing with panic attacks from her many years as a teacher, so thought she'd try and use some of those strategies. "Tell me five things you can see darling" and Isla looked around and said slowly, breath short, "trees, slide, you, swings, see-saw".   
Smiling encouragingly, Vicki continued "That's good, now what four things can you hear?" Isla's breathing was still faster than it should have been, but getting slower, which was a start. "wind, birds, your breathing, the sheep in the field".   
Now Isla was a bit calmer, they sat on the bench while Vicki rubbed her back and asked "do you want to talk about it?"  
"...He's my brother Ollie. He's the one they wanted, not me. He left a while ago to go to college, I don't really remember him that well." She looked up at Vicki who nodded.

"Thank you for telling me" Vicki hugged her and kissed her temple, all while making a note to later tell Collette about what had happened. "Are you ok now?" to which a sniffling Isla nodded and together, the pair, holding hands, began the walk back home for lunch.


	6. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aimie helps Isla feel better and relieve some doubts she's been having recently.

The next few weeks were a struggle to say the least.  
It seemed as though Isla had completely blocked off from the queens, and she was in her own world, eyes glazed off for the majority, no longer the sweet bubbly girl they once knew .

It was Tuesday morning and Collette was making breakfast. Isla walked in bleary-eyed to the kitchen where she found some toast at the table.

“Hiya darling, do you want jam or honey on your toast?”  
Isla didn’t speak and just shook her head and kept her eyes on the toast.  
Collette tried to put her hand on Isla’s shoulder to comfort her but got shrugged off and Isla left the table with some toast to sit on the stairs.

She sighed. How on earth could Collette get through to her if she kept blocking herself off like this? Honestly she felt like a failure, was she doing something wrong?

That day played out painfully slow, much like they had for the last two weeks or so, ever since the park incident. Collette was waiting for Isla outside her tap class when she felt her phone go off inside her pocket.

Aimie: hi, are you on tonight?  
Collette: yeah, Aragon why?  
Aimie: I can come in and look after Isla if you want? Courtney’s on hols and Vicki and Grace are on  
Collette: Are you sure?  
Aimie: huns I’d love to, honest  
Collette: thanks, I owe you. See you later x  
Aimie: see you tonight x

After tap, the pair went on a walk to the duck pond. Isla wouldn’t go near the park anymore and had had a huge tantrum the last time they went even remotely close. But the duck pond was different and Collette had brought some stale bread for her to feed to the ducks. 

Isla stared out at the water, looking at the ducks.  
The tiny ducklings followed their parents without question and the parents always did their best to provide for the ducklings... but what if the ducks couldn’t look after the duckling? Or what if the duckling prefers living with another duck? Is that wrong? Should the duckling feel bad? Does it mean that the duckling and the new duck can’t be a proper family because they’re not related by blood?

All of these questions were running through Isla’s head as she watched their busy lives run by. It must have been 20 minutes when Isla felt a light tap on her shoulder and saw that it was time to go back to the house to pack for the show that day.

On the tube, the same questions kept running through her head on a loop as she continued to think of the ducklings. It was all she could think about. Ever since seeing Oliver it confused her.  
“She’ll come running back to me when she knows what’s good for her. Family is important” he said. 

Was she wrong for not thinking about her family more? Should she feel bad for being happy with Collette and the queens? Even worse was that Isla could see that she was making Collette sad by not speaking to her, but she felt like she couldn’t tell her how she felt. If she did then what if Collette got angry and didn’t want her anymore? 

At last they were at the theatre and Collette was unpacking her bag as Isla (who would normally be helping) sat in the corner. 

She was silent as the queens got ready and did their makeup, in her own little world once again. She couldn’t get her brother’s words out of her mind and wish the thoughts would just go away- they were eating her from the inside out.

As the queens were leaving to go on to the stage, Aimie came into the dressing room and Isla could see Collette exchanging a few words and anxious glances in her direction. 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Aimie went over to Isla’s corner and sat down on the chair next to her. Isla quickly diverted her eyes so she was staring at the table.

“Hey Isla! I took a little trip to the supermarket today, and you’ll never guess what I have?” She took out a big bag of Haribos, expecting to see the four-year-old’s face light up (we all know by now that Isla was a mega fan of sweets) 

However, this didn't happen and, instead, Isla kept her eyes glued to the table and shook her head firmly. Right... Ok... Brows furrowed, Aimie tried another tactic.

"I also brought games. I know you love Headbanz, do you want to play?" and again Isla shook her head. 

"Honey... Is everything ok? Actually no, it's obviously not. What's wrong?" Aimie asked, now deciding to skip the small talk and get to the point.  
"I-" Isla wavered. "Nothing, it's stupid. Not like you would care anyway" Isla replied, mumbling the last part but unfortunately loud enough for the pink-haired woman to hear.

"Ok, first of all, it's not stupid if it's upsetting you this much. And I want you to know that I do care, and so do all of the queens, and Collette, and we are all here to talk about anything, even if you think it's a little thing or a really big thing. We're all here for you Isla, I promise".  
There were a few moments of silence before Isla suddenly spoke up.  
"Am I part of Collette's family? Is it wrong for me to live with her when I have other family, even if my real family isn't very nice?" she questioned, fiddling with her hoodie zip and still looking down at the table.  
Realisation hit Aimie at that point; this is about what her brother had said, isn't it?  
"You know, you don't have to be related to someone for them to be your family. Family just means that you all love each other and will look after each other, and I think that you love Collette and she loves you too, right?" to which she got a short nod in response.

"What about Maman? Would she be angry if I loved Collette like I loved her?"  
Maman? But that's...  
"Isla, parles-tu francais?" Aimie asked to which the tiny girl's eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock.  
"Oui, Maman était francaise donc je l'ai parlé beaucoup avec elle. T'es francaise aussi?" Isla was bouncing up and down in her chair, almost like she used to before.  
"Non, j'ai appris au fac, moi."  
Aimie continued in English. "Isla... can I ask you what your old home was like? It's ok if you don't want to say" she gently asked.  
"I guess... Dad didn't like me much, he liked to drink and got angry quickly. Sometimes he hurt me when I did things wrong like when I broke a plate once doing the washing up. Maman didn't do much, she smoked a lot to help when Dad got mean to her and spent a lot of time in bed. Oliver was there until last year when he went to college and that made Dad get worse. He got really mad because I asked to do dancing; he said it was stupid and selfish cause I was wasting his money. One time I asked again and he got really really mad, more mad than I ever saw him before, and he was going to hurt me but Mum didn't want it so tried to fight back. He got mad at her then and got a knife from the kitchen cabinet, and then... well he hurt her and brought me to you". She looked up to say she was done and Aimie's heart broke for her.

"Thanks honey, you were really brave then for me. I promise that it's better here, and I'm sure your Maman would be pleased that you're happy with Collette now".   
"Are you sure? She wouldn't be upset with me?"  
"Absolutely positive"  
"Can I have a hug Aimie? Please?"  
"Of course darling, come on over here"  
And Isla got onto Aimie's lap and snuggled into her for the remainder of the show while Aimie did admin and played with Isla's hair as she slowly fell asleep.

As the queens came into the dressing room (needless to say with a loud cacophony of screaming and laughter [vocal rest who? we don't know her]), Isla woke up and came over to Collette's chair where she gave her a huge hug and whispered "Sorry".

Collette looked at Isla in the eye and said, gently but firmly "You don't need to feel sorry for anything darling, nothing at all. Ok? Do you want to make brownies tomorrow?" and there was a vigorous nod from Isla as well as another hug.

It looked like the old Isla was back again to reign another day, and Collette couldn't be happier about it.

Aimie gave her a pointed look from across the room, signalling for her to go out into the corridor.  
"Well" Aimie started "The first thing you should know is she's French, which was a surprise. But also, she was worried that her mum would be disappointed in her because she loves you and living with you, and she was just really confused about everything since what happened with her brother".  
"Ok..." Collette tried to come to terms with everything that Aimie was telling her.  
"Be honest with me... have I been a bad mum to her? Not that I'd be trying to replace her mum, it's just that-"  
"Collette" Aimie interrupted.  
"You've been such a great mum to her! Do you have any idea how much her confidence has improved since you've taken her in? And she loves you so much!" At that point, out of the corner of her eye, Collette sees Isla peeking around the door and beckons her over.

"I've packed your bag and Nat did my nails. Want to see?" Looking down at Isla's nails, she saw sparkly pink galore and kissed Isla's head.  
"Thanks sweetie. Do you reckon we should go home now?" she asked and Isla shook her head.  
"I need to say goodbye to everyone! I need to say bye to Millie and Nat and Vicki and Grace and Aimie and Maiya!" and Collette chuckled while the little girl went round the dressing rooms one by one to give each girl a hug and say goodbye.

Just as the pair were about to exit the building, Isla ran up to Aimie and said "Thank you for helping me Aimie, you're the best!"  
Aimie watched the tiny girl clutching Collette's hand as they left the theatre with a warm feeling in her chest, the feeling that you feel when you've just done a good thing and can see the results, in this case being that Isla was now back to being her usual bubbly self, and Collette was reassured in her parenting skills.  
The Guitart household was free to live another day.

Dictionary:  
Parles-tu francais= Do you speak French  
Maman= Mummy (French equivalent)  
Oui, Maman était francaise donc je l'ai parlé avec elle beaucoup! T'es francaise aussi?= Yes, Mummy was French so I spoke it with her a lot. Are you French too?  
Non, J'ai appris au fac, moi= No, I learnt it at uni

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone enjoyed! This chapter was hard to write and felt like it took ages but it's finally done! Any suggestions or feedback would be great, and thank you for reading!


	7. Mummy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this one will be cute, I swear.  
> FLUFF, FLUFF AND MORE FLUFF (as it usually is tbf)

“Hi” Collette heard a whisper coming from the edge of her bed as she groaned and rolled over to face the mischievous face staring back at her.  
“Hiya... Isla, it’s six o’clock in the morning! Why are you up this early?”  
“I dunno, I’m hungry I guess!” She shrugged. “Can I come and cuddle?”  
Collette patted the bed before Isla hopped up and snuggled against the tanned woman. They stayed like that for a while, until Isla started to get restless and found entertainment in poking Collette to get her attention.  
“Ok, ok! Fine, I’m up!” Collette retorted with a soft smile and went downstairs to make some breakfast.

As she was pouring the milk on the cereal, they heard the familiar “Ding dong!” Of the doorbell, and before Collette could get out of her chair, Isla went whizzing along to go and answer the door, slipping and sliding along the floor because of her socks.  
The door opened to Courtney and Eloise

“Hey! How are you?” Eloise went up to the girl who currently had a lion mane of tangled hair, having just got out of bed. 

Isla looked at her skeptically; it was her first time meeting Eloise, and she was a bit shy, not that she would ever admit that.  
Although trying to hide it, Courtney recognised the look in her eye, and picked up Isla before saying “This is my girlfriend Eloise, she and I have a surprise for you today!”

“Did you just say girlfriend?” Isla looked puzzled. “Is that allowed?”

There was an awkward silence before Collette appeared at the door and said “anyone can love whoever they want to love in this house, including me or you”, hoping that this would be a good enough answer.  
“That’s so cool!”

The adults sighed out a breath of relief; clearly that answer was enough to satisfy the young girl.

“Anyway” Courtney continued “We have a surprise for you!” As she said this, Isla’s eyes lit up as she pondered the countless possibilities of what this could mean.

“Dance class?!” And all the adults in the room laughed. Trust her to have dance be the first thing come to mind. Isla looked around at the three women chuckling with a bewildered expression, not understanding what was so funny.  
“Courtneyyyyy! What is it?!” She whined, eager to uncover the truth here.  
“Tell you what: get ready, and then I’ll tell you. I bet you can’t do it in 5 minutes?” Eloise challenged her, having heard a lot about Isla’s competitive nature.

“I bet I can! I’ll do it in 3!” Isla sprinted off and up the stairs to get dressed and brush her teeth.

Meanwhile, the adults were having a conversation in the kitchen.  
“So” Collette began, hands tapping on the table and biting her lip, a clear sign that she was nervous about whatever it was she was going to break to them.  
“I’ve been thinking, and I’m going to try and adopt Isla”

It’s hard to explain the noises of celebration that erupted from the table at this moment, you’d have to be there to be honest.  
Collette had to hush them before sitting down at the table.  
“Just wondering though, do you think it’s too soon? It’s been three months now but after what happened to her before, I don’t want to rush her, and she still has nightmares from it so I don’t want to act like I’m taking her away from her biological mum, and what if she doesn’t think of me in that way?”  
“Woah!” Courtney interrupted.  
“That girl loves you so much, and you’re the one who changed her life around, you know that right? She thinks of you as a mother, that’s without a doubt, ok? If you want to adopt her, go do it!”

At that moment, they all became aware of the sound of little footsteps by the door. Courtney, Eloise and Courtney whipped their heads round to face the girl who had picked out a leotard, wrap-around skirt and ballet tights and shoes to wear, making Collette smile tenderly.

“Honey, I’m not sure if this is going to be quite the right thing to wear for where we’re going today. Come on, let’s go up and get you changed, ok?” And the two of them went up the stairs hand in hand to find something more practical to wear, leaving Courtney and Eloise to continue to freak out over the bomb being dropped about the adoption.

Ten minutes later, Collette and Isla came downstairs, Isla’s hair now done in two french braids and she was dressed in some leggings and a pink jumper.

“Ok” Eloise started, “do you want to know where we’re going?”

“Where?” Isla bounced up and down

Courtney exclaimed “We’re going horse riding!”  
“What? With real horses?” Isla leapt up from her seat.  
“With real horses” Collette chuckled.  
“Can we go now? Please?” Filled with excitement, Isla was now dancing around the house as the adults packed their bags and got out the house.

For the whole car journey, Isla couldn’t keep still. They were going to be with real life horses, which was just about the most awesomest thing she could imagine. Finally, they arrived at some gates which had a sign next to them that said “Cherry Tree Equestrian Centre”.  
“Look! Look! There’s horses in the field!” She pointed out the window.  
This was definitely the right choice for an outing then, Eloise mused, looking at the four year old who was bouncing up and down in her car seat, straining to get a better view at the two horses in the field in front of them.

“Hi! My name’s Jen. Are you four here for hacking today?” A woman with blonde hair approached them in their car. She looked nice, and winked at Isla.  
“Do we get to see the horsies?” Isla asked.  
Jen laughed “yes, and you’ll get to ride one and help me groom it too!”  
“Wow! That’s so cool!”

They went to the reception where they got kitted out with a helmet and riding gloves and boots, and were then assigned to their horses.  
“Collette, you’ll be riding Percy, Eloise will be on Casper, Courtney will be on Rosie, and Isla will be on Albert today”. There were three other women who came up to them, introducing themselves as Harriet, Cassy and Shaka. They would be helping them groom and tack up, and leading them since none of them had gotten near a horse before, let alone ridden.

Jen walked Isla over to Albert, a gorgeous palomino pony with a snowy white muzzle.  
“This is Albert. He’s quite an old boy, can you guess how old?”  
“Ummmm...” Isla scratched her head. “One hundred?”  
“Not quite” Jen said “he’s actually twenty eight! Which is old for a horse”.  
“Today” she continued “I’m going to teach you how to groom him, but you need to remember some important rules first, ok?” Isla concentrated on the conversation hard, wanting to be the best horse groomer anyone had ever seen.

“Number one, we always go on the left hand side of the horse, and if you don’t know lefts and rights yet, you can hold your hand up, and whichever hand makes an L is your left. Number two, we never run around the horses and we use inside voices because they get scared easily. And number three, we never walk too near to the back of the horse. They can’t see you then, so might freak out and kick, but Albert’s a lovely guy, so shouldn’t do that. We need to make sure we follow the rules just in case though, yeah?”  
Isla nodded, and Jen got the grooming box, as Albert had got very muddy in the field last night rolling around. 

First of all, Jen taught her how to use the comb for grooming his mane and tail. It was just like brushing hair, so not too difficult. Then they used the body brush and dandy brush all over his body to get the dust and mud out. Isla had her tongue stuck out in concentration, she was going to have the cleanest horse there ever was, and she would make sure of that. They then used the curry comb and then it was onto hoof picking.

As Jen picked up Albert’s foot, explaining not to pick where the frog was, Isla noticed Albert’s ears go back flat against his head. It was probably nothing though so she began to pick his foot. This lasted for about ten seconds before Albert kicked out all of a sudden, luckily not hurting anyone but giving Isla a bit of a scare as Albert stomped his foot and let out an agitated snort.

“It’s ok Isla. You know how sometimes there’s things that you don’t want to do?”  
“Like having a bath or going to bed?” Isla asked.  
“Exactly like that. Albert is very stubborn and sometimes doesn’t want to do things. He’s having his moment, and then we’ll carry on...  
Tell you what? How about you go with Harriet to the tack room and get his bridle and saddle for me?” 

Finding Harriet, they went into a big room with lots of wood sticking out on the walls. On the wood were the horses’ saddles and bridles, but as Isla couldn’t read yet, she was a bit bewildered about which one would be her horse’s. Luckily, Harriet was there to help, and went to the bottom corner, where a small saddle and bridle were hanging.

Harriet grabbed the bridle off the shelf and put it over Isla’s shoulder, and then took the saddle- which would be far too heavy for the young girl to carry- and the two of them went back to where Jen was with Albert.

Meanwhile, the others were doing the same, grooming their horses and learning how to tack up. Collette had a fully grey horse (in horse terms grey is white) with luscious feathers (hair on his hooves), Eloise had a huge piebald horse who was a bit cheeky by the looks of it, and Courtney had a Skewbald with adorable stockings.

Once the horses were all tacked up, they were lead over to the mounting block, where Isla was helped onto the pony, and Collette took a quick photo as she grinned so hard it seemed as though her face might split in half.

Then the adults mounted their horses and were taught the basics of holding the reins and where to position their feet in the stirrups amongst other things, before being lead into the forest.

The sun was shining through the trees, causing a dappled effect on the forest floor that was gorgeous. The group felt the warmth on their backs and soon got comfortable feeling the rocking feeling caused by the horses walking underneath them. Shaka, Harriet, Jen and Cassy made small talk with the group.

“So, what do you guys do for a living?” Jen asked  
“Well Courtney and I work at SIX the musical as alternates, and Eloise is in Be More Chill as Brooke at the moment”  
“Oh my god! I knew I recognised you guys from somewhere!” Harriet butted in, adding “My sister Amy’s a huge fan”.

“Awe, thanks!” Courtney blushed, saying “It’s really not as glamorous as it looks, but we love the queendom, they’re amazing”

“So do you like theatre then?” Eloise asked.  
Cassy snorted “Harriet’s obsessed, always has some album on”

“Cassy! It’s art; just cause you don’t appreciate it” she dramatically rolled her eyes, causing the women to start laughing uncontrollably.

The hack continued like this: admiring the beautiful scenery (they even went through a small stream at one point) and having a good chinwag.  
They couldn’t believe it when it was already over, and thanked Harriet, Shaka, Cassy (and Jen of course) for taking such good care of them and being so lovely. 

Back in the car, Isla was beaming: “Thank you so much Eloise! And Courtney too!” She gave each of them a hug and leaned on Eloise throughout the journey. Eventually, the fresh air and mouvement of the car was too much for Isla, and her eyes lulled shut, snuggled into Eloise and snoring lightly.

Once they were back home, Collette took Isla from Eloise, whispering a “Thank you” and waving goodbye as the couple drove their car back to their house.  
Collette put Isla down for a nap for a few hours (hey, a lot of fresh air and excitement can make you extremely tired sometimes!) and called her mother for a paella recipe to cook tonight.

Once Isla had woken up, she came over to Collette asking “Can I help cook with you?”  
“Course you can querida” Collette said with a kiss to her head.

“Ok, so we’re gonna chop up the ingredients first, and add them to the pan. And then stir it around for a while. Can you do the stirring for me?” Isla nodded eagerly whilst Collette chopped up the meat and veg.  
“Now add the stock and rice, yeah?” Collette put her hand on top of Isla’s, helping her to stir in the sauces and rice, and then it was time for making it fun.

“So, what stuff do you want to put in it?” The woman asked the young girl.  
“Maybe egg?” She asked.  
“Egg sounds good”  
“Can you please pass me the eggs then Mummy?”.

Just as Collette was picking up the eggs, her brain seemed to short-circuit and went blank, and yet insanely full and active all at the same time. Did she hear that right? Did her girl just call her Mummy? Her heart felt like it had stopped, her brain going into overdrive trying to figure out what this meant.   
She only came out of her thoughts with Isla saying "Mummy are you ok? You dropped the eggs"  
So she had, Collette looked down to see the egg box scattered along with a few cracked eggs. What did that matter though, she just got called Mummy, twice! (and no she definitely was not freaking out inside; what on Earth would give you that idea?) 

"Ok sweetie, could you help me clear that up? I'm fine, don't worry, and we can still make the paella without the eggs I guess. I was just being clumsy".   
That night, they did the usual night time routine: bath, cuddle and read, and bed; except tonight it was all with an extra spring in Collette's step.   
As she was being tucked in, Isla asked- voice groggy from tiredness- "Do you mind me calling you Mummy? I don't mean to make you sad, because you dropped the eggs and I thought you didn't like it"   
"Oh goodness no! I'm not sad. If anything, I'm really happy! You don't have to call me your mum, but if you do want to, then that makes me happy too" 

And that night, Collette and Isla went to sleep with a smile on their lips, knowing that this was a true family, and feeling lucky that they had both found each other by chance outside the Arts one summer's evening...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for not updating sooner! My school is now in isolation until the end of term, so that either means lots of writing or lots of procrastination: guess we'll have to see...  
> I love a comment, so comment any feedback or suggestions for me: I'd really appreciate it!


	8. School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of school!

Today was a big day; the 6th September. Today was Isla’s first day of school, and she was a little bit terrified about it.  
“I’m sorry Isla but you know you have to go! And besides, it’s actually really fun! I’ll drop you off at 9 o’clock and you’ll get picked up at 3:15. I promise I’ll be there and you can tell me all about it, ok?” Collette pleaded.  
“Why do I have to go? I don’t wanna” Isla sat on her bed, refusing to move.

“Ok, let me try Col... Isla?” Vicki was free today and so decided to give Collette a helping hand with the school run before going out for coffee with her.  
“Tell you what, if you go to school today, you can have whatever toy you want after on the way back?”  
Isla mulled this over for a while before nodding and getting out of her bed. “Vicki? Bribery? Really?” Collette said with one eyebrow raised. Meanwhile, Isla walked over to her wardrobe and got her school uniform out to change into it.  
Vicki pointed to the girl cockily “It worked though didn’t it?”  
Collette smiled and shook her head. She could always trust her friends to help her in times like these.

Collette was kind of terrified of Isla’s first day at school too.

Like, what if she hated it, or if something happened and she wasn’t there to help her? And the teachers didn’t know about how she was a fussy eater and got freaked out when she had to talk to lots of people she didn’t know. And what if Isla thought that Collette was being mean by sending her there? She was only four and didn’t understand that she absolutely had to go. To be honest though, the biggest part of this in Collette’s mind was that she didn’t want to be without her daughter. It was the first time in four months that she would be away from her for this long and she was scared about it. Vicki was here today mainly to distract her from her thoughts niggling away at her because she knew how Collette was feeling, even though Collette didn’t want to admit it herself.

“Mummy, I’m changed! It’s not very comfortable though” Isla complained, tugging at her collar and pulling her cardigan. Her uniform was a white shirt with a red and grey tie, a red cardigan, and a grey pinafore.  
Isla, being the little diva that she was, had one or two things to say about the obvious lack of fashion sense from the school here, but unfortunately she was being forced (against her will, how rude) to wear it.

After breakfast, it was time to go after Vicki had done Isla’s hair in two cute space buns. One quick photograph later and they were walking for about twenty minutes to the school.

In front of them stood a building with a ginormous play area and a crowd of red and grey lining up at the front of the school.

On the far left side stood a woman with dark curly hair with a lot of children around Isla’s age.  
“Hi! Are you here for first day of Reception?” The woman asked, to which Collette nodded.  
“Who’s this then?” The woman knelt down to Isla’s level as she asked.  
“I’m Isla!” She exclaimed, barely containing her energy.  
“Ok" she said, looking down the register. "Isla Guitart?” The teacher questioned looking at Collette.  
Nodding, they were interrupted by Collette feeling a tug on her top, and was met with Isla looking at the play area with wide eyes.

“Can I go and play on the climbing frame?” She asked.  
“That’s what break time’s for! Come on inside, we’re going to have lots of fun today, and meet loads of fun new friends! My name’s Miss Stewart and I’ll be your teacher for the next few years.” 

Turning to Collette, Miss Stewart asked her “Do you have any questions? Today will mainly just be icebreakers and games, but if there’s anything you want to let me know, I’m always here to chat” 

“I think I’ll be fine thanks. Just weird to be handing her over, it’s the first time I’ll be without her for this long since I took her in last May. So it’ll be strange but I’m fine thanks”.

The teacher nodded understandably “It can always be difficult for parents on the first day of school, especially when it’s not your biological child. but it’ll become routine in no time, wait and see. Call the school if you feel like you have any other questions or things to tell me, but if that’s all, I think it’s time to go inside!” 

As Collette went to meet Vicki, who was waiting for her by the gates, Isla was getting to know a few of the girls in her class.

There was one girl called Zoe Murphy who seemed nice, as well as another girl called Jodie Steele. Isla decided to stick with them when they went into the classroom for icebreaker games, whatever they were.

“Hello everybody! My name is Miss Stewart, and I’m going to be your teacher until you leave the school. Now, everyone might be feeling a lot of big feelings today, and that’s understandable, but today we’re going to be having a lot of fun and playing some games. So, can we all think of an interesting fact about ourselves? I have a special ball here that we are going to throw to each other and when it’s thrown to you, you are going to say your name and interesting fact, ok?”

That morning, Isla met a lot of new friends, like Zoe, Jodie, Michael and Jeremy, Evan and Zara. She couldn’t wait for break time and the opportunity to play on the climbing frame that she had been thinking of.  
However, she didn’t get that far before encountering a bit of trouble.

“Don’t say that, please, it’s not true!” Zoe’s voice sounded across the playground...  
Then there was JD and Heather’s voices “But you’re an orphan, you haven’t got a real mum. I bet she left because she couldn’t stand you! I bet that’s why she died!”  
They didn’t get any further before Isla stomped right towards them, fists clenched and ready to kick some asses.  
“Why would you ever say that? At least her mum wants her! Don’t worry Zoe, I’m like you, and they’re just jealous we have better mums.”  
“You’re like her? Of course you’re sticking up for her, I bet your parents hated you too and-“  
They didn’t get any further before Isla had punched JD on the arm.

“Miss! Miss! Look what Isla did! She punched JD!” Heather cried out to Miss Stewart, who came rushing over, concern clear in her eyes.

"What on Earth happened here?" and all four children looked up with sheepish eyes before JD butted in: "She punched me Miss!" pointing at Isla.

And that was how Isla ended up spending the rest of her breaktime having a "special chat" with Miss Stewart.  
"So, do you want to tell me what happened?"  
Isla shifted in her chair. "It's not my fault, he was being stupid and mean to Zoe and me!"  
"How was he being mean, what did he say to you?" the teacher asked calmly, used to having these sorts of conversations.  
"He told us that our real parents hated us and didn't want us and that's why Zoe and I are looked after by our new parents. He said that Zoe's mum died because she didn't like her, so I punched him". Isla said the last part of that sentence very matter-of-factly.  
"Ok, that wasn't very nice of JD to say, but maybe you could have told me instead of hitting or punching anyone next time. It's better to use our words than hurt people, and if you tell me then I'll help sort everything out".  
Isla was then allowed out to break, after promising not to do that again, letting Miss Stewart have a conversation with JD and Heather who came out of the classroom later looking very ashamed and apologised to Isla and Zoe straight away.

Outside in the playground, the other children were playing fairies vs pirates. Isla went to stand next to Jodie, who whispered the rules to her.  
"The boys are the pirates, and we're the fairies, and they're fighting each other. So the pirates are trying to catch us, and if they touch you, then you have to stand still until a fairy touches you and says a spell to set you free. Each fairy only has three spells though, so you can only free three people. The point of the game is to try and stay free and make sure the fairies win."  
The next fifteen minutes whizzed by with a lot of squealing and running away from people. Although Isla did use up all her spells, she managed to stay free until Miss Stewart had rung the bell too say that it's time for lunch and they went into the hall.

"Is the food good?" Isla asked Zoe, who had an older brother at the school (Connor).  
Zoe grimaced "Apparently it's disgusting. Connor says that there were hairs in the baked beans and a toenail in his sausages yesterday".  
"No! Really? That's gross!" Jodie exclaimed, mouth open in horror.

It turned out that the food really wasn't as bad as Connor had made out and it was actually ok. Because it was the first day, they had pizza with pepperoni on it and orange juice (apparently it was a tradition). There were lots of other kids much bigger than them there, and they looked really scary, until one big girl, called Angelica, told Isla, Zoe and Jodie that she was their buddy. She was supposed to teach them how the school works and what they had to do.  
They learnt that they had assembly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; which were supposed to be really boring so the girls weren't looking forwards to that. And there was PE which was super fun, and music class with Mrs Huff, who was funny. They found out that golden time on Friday was by far the best time of the week. Angelica also told them that in the spring, they would get to look after the little baby chickens from a local farm until they were grown up, which Isla couldn't wait for.

Then Miss Stewart rang the bell again, and they all went back to the playground for the next lesson, where they played parachute games, which, as Isla was to learn, were the best games ever.  
One game was where they put a ball in the middle of the parachute, and they had to make it bounce up and down, and another game was called Fruit bowl- they each got named a different fruit and when Miss Stewart named your fruit, you had to run under the parachute to swap places with someone else who was your fruit. It was super fun, and when the bell rang that said it was the end of the day, Isla couldn't help but feel a little dismayed, despite her saying to Collette and Vicki earlier that she didn't want to go.

Collette and Vicki drove back to the school for quarter past three and parked the car a little way off. They had spent the day at the local Starbucks filling out some of the forms for Isla's adoption which should be ready for October, so perfect for Isla's birthday. 

Isla spotted Collette across the playground and was about to run across the playground to meet her when Miss Stewart stopped her, because she had to speak with Collette for some reason.  
"Hi, Miss Guitart?"  
"Collette's fine, don't worry" she said, questioning what this could be about.  
"You have a wonderful little girl, honestly very kind and caring to her classmates, although perhaps punching one of them wasn't the best idea" Miss Stewart chuckled.  
Collette's eyes widened "I am so sorry!" she gushed.  
"It's fine, she did it all for the right reasons. No, I've just noticed some things in her behaviour. Very very energetic, finds it difficult to sit still or listen for a long time. Lots of daydreams and conversations when we're meant to be listening. It's not a problem, it's just that I've experienced it before in a lot of children, and it's a possibility that she may have ADHD? Just telling you to be sure, I'd say get it checked out in case".  
"Oh, ok. Thank you, Miss Stewart"  
"Call me Hana".  
"Thank you Hana then". And with that done, it was time to go home.

In the car, Isla was busy telling Vicki and Collette all about her day at school.  
"We played lots of games with parachutes, and it was so fun. And at lunch time we did a game that was called Pirates and Fairies, and I only died once, and I was alive at the end! And there's nice girls in my class called Jodie and Zoe, and Zoe's mum and dad aren't her real mum and dad, like me. She's something called a-, ad- ado-, I forgot what it's called but it happened last week to her and her sister. And there's other people in my class like Evan, Connor, Jared, Michael, Jeremy and Zara and CJ too, and they're all really nice to play with!"  
"Wow! Sounds like you've been busy! Now it's time for ballet, right?" Vicki asked from the passenger seat.  
"No" Isla said, eyebrows furrowed. "You said we could go to the toyshop now, remember?".  
Collette and Vicki laughed as Collette replied "She never forgets things like this Vick, you know that".

So all in all, Isla's first day of school wasn't a total failure. Collette took Hana's advice and got Isla tested for ADHD later that week (it turns out that Hana was right in her predictions, so Isla was working on that and her teacher always made sure she had a fidget toy in class to help her concentrate better), and she had a new Lego set, so Isla was currently very satisfied with life.  
All in all, it was an all-round successful day.  
:)


	9. Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeet :)  
> It’s Isla’s fifth birthday today!

Collette had been planning this day for months. It was the 18th of October and Isla was turning five years old. 

She had been up since four o’clock in the morning making preparations for her daughter’s special day, wanting everything to be perfect, especially since knowing that Isla has never celebrated her birthday before.

“It’s nearly your birthday huns! Have you thought about what you’re going to do yet?” Jaye J had asked one Saturday, to which Isla shrugged.  
"What do you mean? It’s just another day” And it all clicked in Collette’s head that Isla didn’t even know that birthday celebrations were a thing, and so she vowed to throw that girl the best party anyone had ever seen.

“Well, we could all go to the trampoline park with the queens and some of your friends, and then have a queen sleepover? If you want to of course?” Maiya piped in, at which Isla's eyes lit up.  


“With Zoe and Jodie and Lauren from school, and then Karis and Ella and Shannen from Dance? Pretty please?” She asked, now jumping up and down in excitement and looking at Collette for approval.  


“I promise, yeah? So is that what you want to do?” Collette asked, running her fingers through Isla’s hair as the four (soon to be five) year old nodded vigorously.

It was now the morning of the special day and Collette was just praying that today would live up to Isla’s now pretty high (thanks to the other queens) expectations.  
She ticked off in her mental checklist:  
Card, balloons, presents, cake, and the party were all sorted out. Now all that was needed was for Isla to come downstairs and the day would begin.

As though right on queue, Collette heard a big yawn from the top of the stairs followed by the sound of pattering feet. Quickly she ducked down under the table to hide.

“Mum? Where are you? Because I checked and you’re not in your room which means you’re downstairs somewhere” the girl called out with a confused look on her face.  
“Surprise! Happy birthday!” Collette leapt out from her hiding spot to embrace Isla, planting a firm kiss on her forehead.

“What do you want for breakfast then huns?” Collette asked, to which Isla responded “pancakes, duh!” But then quickly added a “please” when she saw Collette raise her eyebrow in a questioning way, and looked down sheepishly, but a mischievous grin still played on her lips.

After a birthday breakfast, Collette covered Isla’s eyes and lead her into the living room, where there were two massive balloons, one saying “Happy Birthday Isla” and the other being a big pink number 5. On the sofa was a pile of presents and a card wrapped in sparkly wrapping paper.

When Collette uncovered Isla’s eyes, they lit up at the presents and she looked back at Collette hesitantly, questioning if she could go and open them. Collette gave an encouraging nod and a smile to let her know it was ok. Isla still got nervous about moments like this and struggled on how to know when she was allowed to do things from time to time, but was getting much better overall thanks to Collette’s patience with her. 

The first present she decided to open was soft and squishy to the touch, and when Isla opened it up, it turned out to be some really cool leotards for dance, some colourful scrunchies and a pack of Therabands. “I can be like the big girls at dance now with the stretchy bands! Thank you!”  
Then it was swiftly onto the next present. This one was a small box, and so was a little harder to tell what it would be. Opening the present, Isla discovered a neon glowing drawing board. You could write in it and whatever it said would glow in the dark.  
Some other presents were an art kit, a new Teddy bear (which Isla chose to call Pixi) and a pogo stick to play with in the garden. 

Finally, it was time to open the card. The front was a picture of Paddington Bear (her favourite cartoon character) eating a marmalade sandwich. On the inside was a lot of writing and another piece of paper.  
“Shall we sound out the letters like you’re learning to do in school?” Collette gently asked.  
“I guess... It’s hard, but I can try.” Isla responded.

Inside the card said:  
“My darling girl,  
How are you five already? Stop growing now please, you’re growing up too fast! I hope that today will be the best day, you’re a little ray of sunshine who deserves the world.  
From Mummy x”

“Bon anniversaire, ma petite” Collette said in a very bad French accent, which made Isla laugh to no end, proceeding to correct her.  
“Ok ok! At least I tried, hey?” Collette retorted.

“What’s the paper inside the card for?” Isla moved on, looking at the paper curiously from Collette’s lap.  
“It’s the adoption certificate, do you understand what that means?” She asked, to which Isla shook her head.  
“It’s a piece of paper meaning that you’re now officially my daughter, and that I’m officially your mum. It’s really good news huns, so that’s something to be grateful for today” Collette explained. Isla didn’t properly understand what this meant, but it seemed that Collette was really happy, so that’s good. Then it was time to head to the trampoline park.

When they got there, they were greeted with an eerie silence, but all the queens’ cars were there... What was happening? They were about to head inside when all of a sudden:  
“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Isla, happy birthday to you! And many more!”  
The queens jumped out from behind the bushes "SURPRISE!" and Millie picked up Isla and whirled her round before saying "I hope you're ready to get very tired because you and me will be going non stop!"

"Oh god... Just don't get her involved in all your schemes ok Mills?" Collette said, almost regretting bringing her most hyper friend here.

Once inside, Karis, Ella, Shannen, Jodie, Lauren and Zoe met Isla, and Collette was swept up in making sure that everything ran smoothly. She made sure that everyone had their trampoline socks and that the wavers were all signed before they came in to the other room for the safety briefing.  
There was a man there in a bright green t-shirt, with a name tag that said "B- Br- Bri- Bric- no... Brian" Isla spelled out in her head. And he was droning on and on. Isla found herself fidgeting with her hoodie zipper and bouncing herself against the wall, going into a world of her own.  
"Hey, Isla?" No response.  
"Earth to Isla!" Lexi tried, finally catching the girl's attention.  
"It's really important that you listen to the man honey"  
Isla pouted, her brain not wanting to concentrate on anything but the fact that they were going to be spending a whole hour and a half inside this place, but they couldn't because Brian wouldn't stop talking.  
"Why?" she asked.  
"Because if you don't then you'll hurt yourself, and trampolining might be fun but it's also dangerous" Aimie chimed in, and this was enough for Isla to concentrate, not taking her eyes off the man.  
Gribby had decided that he would be the one to stay with the bags today. He didn't fancy the trampolines much, and he was wearing his Gucci watch which he couldn't bare to take off and leave in his bag, just in case he lost it.

And at last, the safety briefing was over and they were free to roam the warehouse full of brightly coloured trampolines.  
Isla and her friends sprinted over to the tumble track; Jodie, Zoe and Lauren content with running and racing each other down the track and back, but Isla and her dance friends desperately trying to land some tricks that they had been learning in acro that week.

They tried to do the ninja court after that, but soon found that they were all too small to reach the different monkey bars and exercises. However, Jaye J, Natalie and Grace all happened to see them struggling from where they were on the half pipe and agreed to help them race, picking them up to let them reach the obstacles and making sure to catch them if they fell.  
The first race was between Jodie, Zoe and Isla. At first Isla was in the lead, easily completing the rope swing and hanging doors. However, the monkey bars were a bit of an issue due to her small size and not being able to reach the next bar, so she fell out of Grace's grasp and into the foam pit. That left Zoe and Jodie still going. Isla thought that Jodie was going to win, as she was generally much faster in the playground games. But that all changed when she couldn't work out how to get across the bouldering wall and Zoe finally found that she was in front, a smile growing on her face as she saw the finish line.  
Next was between Karis, Ella and Shannen. They were all extremely competitive, so this was going to be interesting. Like Isla, the monkey bars were the downfall for Karis, but the other two managed to get to the end. It was neck and neck the entire way through, and they got to the finish line pretty much at exactly the same time.  
"So, who won then?" Ella looked at the queens expectantly, drawing herself up to a grand height of 3 foot 6.  
Shannen added "It was definitely me, right?".  
Natalie was the next to speak "Girls I think that one was a draw honestly".  
That was clearly the wrong thing to say because next thing, the girls were both looking distraught, and Natalie looked helplessly at them both, having no clue what to say.  
Luckily, Isla seemed to have a plan.  
"I know guys, we can do the battle beams to decide the winner!" which everyone seemed to be happy about.

As they were running over to the battle beams though, Millie came bounding over to ask the girls if they wanted to play dodge ball with the other queens, to which they (of course) said yes.  
The teams were as follows:  
Team 1 (or the Super Troopers):  
-Aimie  
-Collette  
-Jaye J  
-Vicki  
-Eloise  
-Maiya  
-Zoe  
-Karis  
-Ella

Team 2 (or the Orange Yeeters)  
-Lexi  
-Grace  
-Courtney  
-Millie  
-Nat  
-Jodie  
-Lauren  
-Shannen  
-Isla

"Ok, so, the rules are: stand at the back of your side of the court, one hand touching the wall trampoline until I say go. Then you have to run into the middle and try to grab a ball... That sounded wrong" The woman said from the side when she noticed the queens sniggering. Isla was confused at why they were laughing but we digress.  
"To get someone out, you need to hit them anywhere in between the shoulders and knees, or catch a ball that they have thrown at you, and once you're out, stand by me at the side. Last one standing's team wins. Everything clear?"  
After everyone had decided that they understood, they all began to play. And the next twenty minutes or so were absolute chaos.  
All of the queens seemed to have their own tactics: Millie was just going insane and shouting "YEET!!!" after every throw, and meanwhile Natalie ran away from any ball coming her way with a scream. Vicki on the other hand, was trying to collect as many balls as possible and throwing them all at once. Isla was only aiming for Collette, determined to be able to beat her mother at all costs, which she managed eventually.  
By the end, only two queens were left on the court: Maiya for the Super Troopers, and Courtney for the Orange Yeeters, both of whom were set on winning. The stand down was intense, lasting about five or so minutes until Maiya tried to catch a ball that Courtney had lobbed her way. Unfortunately for her, the ball went out of her grip and ended up bouncing off her arm, and so the game was over.  
Courtney ran (or bounced) a lap of the court, thrilled that she was the winner, and she wasn't going to let Maiya forget this any time soon.

Next Isla and her friends went on the battle beams before trying out some basketball (which she figured out she was not naturally gifted at), before hearing it was time for the cake and then to go home.

By the time the party was finished, everyone was in a daze, faces red and out of breath (trampolining's a lot harder than they thought, despite doing eight shows a week).

The queens were sat at the table, mainly downing water and checking their phones, while Isla and her dance friends were attempting to teach Lauren, Jodie and Zoe a routine (which had them all rolling around on the floor laughing)  
Then, Isla noticed a cake coming out from behind the café with five candles on, shaped like the cookie monster. Isla's mouth dropped at the sight of it, and Nat luckily managed to snap a pic of her amazed face. Of course, the queens being the queens, they had to sing Happy Birthday in a perfect 5 part harmony before Isla was allowed to blow out any of the candles. Collette held back her daughter's hair as she blew out the candles, and then (after a lot of cake of course) it was time for her friends to leave.  
"Bye everyone!" Isla hugged each of her friends in turns, the queens' hearts warming at the interactions.  
"Happy birthday Isla! See you at school on Monday!" and then it was just her and the queens.

Isla had decided that she wanted to go back to the house in Grace's car, which meant sharing the car with Vicki, Lexi and Millie.  
Blasting music, Isla ended up singing along to Little Mix (as you do- she had been taught well), and Grace exclaimed "Wow, you have a really good voice! Have you ever thought about maybe doing some singing lessons as well as your dance?" And that was how Isla ended up doing musical theatre, which we'll delve into more later.

Finally everyone was home, and it was time to order dinner. As it was Isla's birthday, she got to choose a takeaway, and Isla chose to get pizza from Dominoes. She wanted a small ham and pineapple pizza (a/n: no hate pls but Hawaiian pizza is god-tier, no arguing with the truth okkkkk? XD) because it was her favourite, and, naturally, they were going to have ice cream for desert.

Whilst waiting for the pizza to arrive, the queens all sat around the living room whilst Isla stood in the centre, lapping up the attention, and showed them her most recent dances. Hyping her up, they soon realised the next song she had decided to play on the smart speaker...  
And that there was a five year old doing the wap dance in front of them.  
"Woah! Who taught you that dance babes?" Natalie asked from her seat on the sofa.  
Isla looked up at the queens with puzzled eyes.  
Why was this a problem?  
"Gribby when I was at Aimie's and she went to do the shopping."  
Aimie facepalmed and sighed, pulling out her phone to dial Gribby's number. "I am going to kill him!”  
I don't really understand it though, why don't they just fix the holes?"  
"Sorry darling? What do you mean?" Vicki questioned.  
Isla continued "Well it says there's some holes in this house, there's some holes in this house, but why don't they fix the holes?"  
Everyone had to try their hardest to hold back a snigger at this innocence, and Isla stood there bemused wondering what on Earth was funny, this was an extremely serious question!

Before Aimie was able to go full "Aimie rage" on Gribby, (which I can assure you would be slightly terrifying), the doorbell rang, signalling the pizza had arrived.  
"Can I come and get the door with you Mum?" Isla leapt up and followed Collette into the hall, standing behind her mother as she paid for the pizzas and tottering after her to help pour drinks for everyone.

"Isla? Isla honey, come here!" The girls all called her from the kitchen, to which Isla looked up at Collette, questioning if she could go, to which she received a gentle nod. 

"We need some help. So, tonight you know we're doing a sleepover, but we need to make everything a bit more comfortable to sleep on, so Courtney's got out the blow up mattresses, which Lexi and Grace have started on, but we need blankets, duvets and pillows. Do you want to help us grab some?"  
Isla proudly led the queens up to her room where they collected her duvet and pillows, as well as a few blankets. She also picked up her new bear Pixi, which she had tucked under her arm as she then showed the queens to Collette's room, where they added to their collection of blankets and pillows. Now it was time to get the room set up for the sleepover, which they did within 10 minutes, and then it was time to relax and eat.

"What toppings have you got Isla?" Jaye J asked her.  
"Ham and pineapple" she responded to which Millie scrunched up her nose and recoiled in disgust.  
"Oh god no, you little weirdo! That's treason of the highest order: how many times do I need to explain to you lot that to eat fruit on a pizza is a serious crime?!"  
Collette rolled her eyes "Pipe down Millie! You're the one who dipped cake in hot sauce" she quipped back.  
"That's totally different though! Just because none of you are sophisticated enough to recognise that this is true taste".  
The banter continued between the girls until they'd all finished their pizza, and then Aimie had an announcement. 

"Ok guys, I thought it would be cute to get us all matching pjs for tonight as it's Isla's birthday, so..." she pulled out a bag filled with cosy pink and white pyjamas.  
The room was filled with murmurings of thanks as everyone got changed and settled down on the floor before deciding on a film.

"Right, do you have Disney+ ?" Grace asked, looking back at Collette who nodded.  
Grace said "I vote Moana" and some of the girls nodded and agreed with her.  
However, Vicki butted in arguing that they should watch Frozen instead.  
"Guys, remember it's Isla's birthday, what does she want to watch?" Lexi added, to which all heads turned to face Isla, waiting for her verdict.  
"I don't know, I've never watched either of them" she shrugged.  
Maiya gasped "How could you Collette? You call yourself a cool mum and you've never ever shown this child Moana or Frozen? Honestly that's dispicable! Anyway Isla, Frozen is awesome, there's a funny talking snowman called Olaf, and an ice queen called Elsa. It's epic, and there's so many cool songs too!"  
This seemed to have done the trick, because before Grace could get a word in edgeways, Isla had decided that they were watching Frozen, and wasn't going to be changing her mind any time soon.  
Getting comfy, she went over to Vicki (as she was the closest to the telly) and climbed into her lap, leaning back against her to watch the film as Vicki secured her, putting her arms round Isla's chest.  
It turns out that Isla really really loved Frozen, particularly Olaf, and she would be singing along to In Summer (and Let It Go obviously) constantly for the next few months, as well as asking for it to play in the house on repeat.

By the time that the film was over, Isla was dropping off to sleep and Vicki gently laid her down on the mattress next to her and Aimie before all the other girls mentioned that they were also getting tired, and were going to sleep now.

As everyone settled down and relaxed, Collette laid down staring at the ceiling, reflecting on her day. She was amazed at how on Earth she could have been so lucky to find this girl one random evening on the streets, and wondered what would have happened if one of the other girls took her home instead. What would have happened if they didn't even notice the tiny figure and ended up walking right past her? Collette shivered at the thought- who knows what would have happened to her. The important thing was, she had Collette now, and Isla had made such a massive difference to the woman's life. She couldn't imagine what it would be like without her daily wakeup calls when her little bundle of energy would come bounding into her room, the constant dance shows and showing off the arts and crafts done at school that day. What's more, Collette couldn't believe how fortunate she was to be surrounded by such strong, confident women who lifted her up and would be there for her no matter the time of day or what the issue was. There was no way she could ever have done this without them. And so, as the last one awake, Collette spent the night reflecting on the family she had made in the last few months.  
Her forever family.


	10. Tis the Season

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tis the season to be jolly, Christmas is here! But Isla doesn't seem to be catching onto the excitement surrounding her for some reason, and it's up to Collette and the queens to find out why...
> 
> (In other words: A very VERY overdue chapter)

It was the first of December and Isla was learning lots of things about Christmas traditions, seeing as she had never celebrated before. 

She found out about advent calendars yesterday when Collette came home from the shops with a purple box with lots of numbers on it.  
"What's that?" Isla asked when she walked into the kitchen.  
Collette knelt down with the calendar to let Isla see it better before explaining. "It's an advent calendar. So every day, you go to the right number and open the door, and behind the door there's chocolate. Tomorrow's day 1!"  
Isla scrunched up her face before stating the obvious. "But why wait all that time when you could just eat it all now and then go to the shops and buy another one?"  
Typical Isla, always using logic in situations involving sugar. As much as Collette attempted to explain the meaning of the calendar and how it was just a way of counting down to Christmas, Isla still wasn’t having any of it. So yes, it seemed as though the idea of advent calendars were a bit of a waste on her, but the tree decorating was much more fun the next week.

****

Now Isla was at school, and as it was Friday, Miss Stewart declared that they were doing Christmas arts and crafts for the afternoon. Isla sat at her table, unsure of what to do, and looked over at Lauren, who had chosen to colour in a man.  
“Who’s that?” Isla questioned, though she wasn’t expecting the looks of shock that came over all three other girls’ faces at not knowing who this man was.  
Jodie was the next to speak: “you mean you’ve never heard of Santa?!” And when Isla shook her head, it seemed that all of the others had taken it upon themselves to educate her.

“He’s an old man who comes into your room at night on Christmas Eve, and you leave out mince pies and a drink (my parents always leave whisky but apparently it doesn’t matter) and a carrot for Rudolph. He leaves you whatever present you ask him for, but if you’re bad then you get a lump of coal and no presents. He gets to everyone’s houses on a sledge pulled by reindeer and goes into your house by sliding down the chimney!”

Now to Isla, Santa sounded terrifying, and apparently him coming was something to be exited about?! 

****

It became clear to Isla that he was an extremely big deal when Grace was on standby and chatting with her in the dressing room one matinee.  
“So Isla, Christmas is coming soon right? So exiting! What are you asking for from Santa?”  
At the mention of the man’s name, Isla visibly tensed and shrugged.  
Grace frowned but pressed gently. “Oh come on, there must be something you want huns?”  
“No, I don’t want anything!” Isla blurted out, almost too quickly, closing in on herself slightly. 

She couldn’t act scared though, none of her friends were scared and she wasn’t a scaredy cat! Deep down however, Isla was dreading the thought of him coming into her house. What if she’s been bad and didn’t know, and he wanted to punish her? What happened then? Or he could hurt Collette!

For the next few days, the concept of Santa had been playing on Isla’s mind constantly. She couldn’t understand the hype and how you could be exited, and was scared stiff of the thought that he would come into her room whilst she was sleeping.

****

It was an average night in the Guitart house. Isla was fast asleep and Collette was catching up on paperwork and admin that she had to do. All was calm. Well, it was until Collette heard a stifled sob coming through the wall.  
Now alert, Collette listened hard, and there was a sudden scream which came from the other room as well as a voice that shouted “No!”

Getting out of the bed, she heard the noise getting louder and more distressed until she reached the door, and when she saw the source of the noise, she felt her heart breaking into a million pieces.

Isla was in the bed thrashing her arms and legs around her duvet and tears streaming down her face. It was clear that she was having a nightmare, and so Collette slowly sat down on the edge of the bed.  
“Isla? Isla, come on, wake up honey. Come on, there you go”.  
When the girl finally awoke, she jumped out of her skin, fighting to get away until her mother soothingly said “Darling, it’s me. You’re ok, it was a bad dream”.  
Still hiccoughing from her tears, Isla slowly calmed down, moving towards Collette and leaning against her as the woman rubbed her back to help her relax.  
“Do you want to talk about it?” Collette prompted.  
Upon Isla’s hesitation, the woman added “It will probably make you feel better”.

At this, Isla realised it might be a good idea, and began to speak in a shaky but groggy voice heavy with sleep.  
“Santa came down the chimney and he smelt like beer. He was walking funny and was really angry like Daddy was. He came into my room and said I’d been naughty, but I hadn’t Mummy, I hadn’t! And then he hit me and said the real punishment is for you. He went to your room and he was going to hurt you really badly so I tried to stop him but it didn’t work, sorry Mum, I really did try, I-“.

Collette hushed her apologies and hugged the girl to her chest, asking “Are you frightened that Santa will hurt you or me on Christmas Eve?”. At a short nod from the five-year-old affirming her suspicions, Collette came up with a plan to help this fear, but she’d need her dad’s help... 

For now though, she needed to focus on the issue at hand, turning her attention back to Isla and reassuring her “There’s nothing to be scared of Isla, I promise you. He wouldn’t hurt us, he’s actually really nice. Do you want to sleep in my bed with me tonight though?” She asked, looking at her daughter’s tear stained face.  
At another nod, Collette picked up Isla, placing her on her hip and the pair went into Collette’s bedroom.  
Isla was laid down on the bed and tucked in before Collette laid down, and when the woman got under the covers, the girl snuggled up to her as close as physically possible as she drifted off to sleep, to make sure her mother wasn’t going anywhere.

****  
The next day, Collette had a phone call to make.  
"Dad, this might sound weird but have you still got that Santa suit from last year? I've got an idea..."

Isla had been stretching whilst watching some Ben and Holly (as you do) whilst Collette was busy making some lunch when the doorbell rang.  
Now Isla was used to this obviously, but what she wasn't used to was Collette sitting her down on the sofa and saying she needed to have a chat.  
The five year old gave a questioning look, fiddling with the throw that was draped over the chair.  
"Isla honey, this might sound scary but I promise you're safe. I've invited Santa round so that you can have a chat with him and he can show you that he isn't scary. I'll be there for the whole thing and he wouldn't hurt us, yeah?".  
Now although she tried to have a brave front and nodded, Collette wasn't fooled, and the fear was evident on her face. She placed a kiss on Isla's head and held out a hand for her.  
The pair walked to the door and Collette opened it for a man with a red hat and suit, and a white beard.

Immediately Isla shied away, deciding that the safest place to be was hiding behind Collette’s leg and peeping out to eye the man wearily.

“Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas Isla! Collette told me that you had a bad dream and weren’t really looking forward to Christmas Eve. Is that true?”  
The big man sat on the sofa, and Isla nodded cautiously.  
“Well I came here today because I need some help, and I think that you will be the perfect helper! It’s just, I often like to perform to the reindeer and Mrs Claus, but I’m not very good”. He proceeds to demonstrate his point by doing something of a cross between a waddling duck impression and an 80s disco dance, causing Isla to laugh shyly.  
“So do you think that you could help me come up with a routine so that I can impress Mrs Claus in time for Christmas?” Santa asked her hopefully  
Isla paused for a second, clearly taking some time to consider the offer, before nodding slowly, smile faintly showing.

Still keeping at a distance and extremely close to Collette, she said quietly "We're doing a Christmas dance at the moment in jazz where we're all naughty elves, and I can teach you that I guess..."

“That sounds perfect, thank you! I’ve heard that you’re a very good dancer, so I’d love to have you teach me it. And you won’t believe how naughty some of those elves are back at my grotto- last week some of them even stole my special mince pies (and I do love my mince pies). I turned around and- poof!- they were gone! But if you could help me impress Mrs Claus I would love it, thank you Isla!”

Collette watched the duo from the sofa as Isla instructed Santa on the movements and acting, and it didn’t get past her how Isla was tweaking the parts she didn’t like to suit her (in other words- a lot less turns now, Collette chuckled, as well as a freestyle section for Santa to show off his skills).

After about half an hour, the pair were finally ready to show off their work. It seemed that Collette was in charge of music, and so she had her laptop balanced on her knee playing Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree as she filmed them on her phone. Her plan had definitely worked, as Isla was laughing uncontrollably at the freestyle section, and had truly opened up to Santa (showing him her sassy side as she corrected him numerous times throughout the learning process, which Collette had been shocked about). She really didn't expect to pull it off this much, thinking that Isla may be less nervous but her fear wouldn't leave entirely, but it looked as if she was wrong as they danced alongside each other. 

Now their performance was over, it was time for Santa to ask what Isla wanted for Christmas, and her answer was a big change of tune from the "nothing" that Collette and the queens had received earlier.  
"Well I would really like Elsa please- I want her to show me how she got her powers so I can make a snowman and fun games with the snow all the time. Also, a puppy would be great. Oh, and can we get one of those huge jungle gyms that the YouTube person has in his garden please? Mainly just Elsa though"  
Santa laughed and asked her "You want me to get you Elsa? Well I did say that you could get anything you wanted I guess..." and Collette huffed, smiling and rolling her eyes. Thanks for suggesting Frozen that night Vicki! How on Earth was she going to make that happen? Heaven knows, but maybe she'd manage it by some miracle...

After Santa had gone, Isla had chosen to call Aimie and tell her all about the day.  
"Aimie, salut! Aujourd'hui, Santa est allé chez moi! Et, au début, j'avais peur, mais en fait il était très sympa, et je lui ai enseigné mon danse de Noël que j'ai appris au jazz la semaine dernière! Après cela, il m’a demandé ce que je veux pour Noël, et j'ai dit que je voudrais Elsa, et il m'a dit qu'il peut y arriver, donc j'suis très impatiente pour Noël maintenant si je peut avoir Elsa pour un cadeau!"  
From the other line, Aimie laughed and replied "Vraiment? Tu vas recevoir Elsa, ç'est trop cool, ça!" whilst wondering what sort of stunt Collette would have to think of now to do now to make this happen, after all, there was never a dull day in the Guitart house.

Meanwhile in the other room, Collette was just counting her lucky stars that this had gone so well, trying to ignore for now that she had to conjure Elsa out of thin air somehow. Thank God Isla didn't recognise her Dad, or else she'd really be screwed, but for now they just had to wait for the real thing on Christmas Eve, when the family would be enveloped in a warm feeling of Christmas magic (and Elsa of course).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this is so late! School as always piling on the work urgh, and procrastination is REAL.
> 
> Anyways, as always, feedback and comments always appreciated, and if you have any ideas for upcoming chapters please don't hesitate to tell me :)
> 
> Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> Isla needs to be protected at all costs, that is all.  
> Also any feedback or ideas would be very very greatly appreciated as this is my first fic, and although I've done a fair bit of reading, this is my first time writing one
> 
> Thanks Bolla for being my ideas partner (half of the ideas for this fic were requested by her and for that I'm hugely thankful hehe)
> 
> Also thanks to WriterGirlRS aka Romy and to CanadianGirl23 for helping me and giving all the support yay :)


End file.
